By Kim Se-jeong
Public outrage toward President Park Geun-hye and conservative politicians intensified amid a civic group’s call to erect a statue of her father, former President Park Chung-hee, in downtown Seoul next year.
On Wednesday, a group of the authoritarian leader’s supporters gathered at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts to discuss memorial activities, as 2017 will mark his 100th birthday.
The President Park Chung Hee Memorial Foundation, a civic group, said it seeks to set up the statue in Gwanghwamun Square, the symbolic heart of central Seoul where key government, diplomats and business buildings are gathered.
Currently, the square has statues of King Sejong and Yi Sun-sin from the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910).
The foundation members include former presidential chief of staff to Park Geun-hye, Kim Ki-choon, former Prime Minister Chung Hong-won and Presidential Committee for National Cohesion chairman Han Kwang-ok, who was appointed as presidential chief of staff Thursday.
“This nation will stand alright if his statue finds its place at Gwanghwamun Square,” said Jwa Sung-hee, chairman of the memorial foundation.
According to Jwa, the foundation will initiate fundraising for the project.
The news came as a scandal involving President Park’s confidant Choi Soon-sil engulfs the nation.
The minor opposition People’s Party called the statue project an act of idolatry.
“This is similar to what North Korea is doing. This is a real pro-North Korean project,” the party said in a statement. The party also criticized the daughter ― President Park ― for using her father in an attempt to cover up her own mess. “Dear President, that is just not the right way to remember your father.”
News websites and social media were flooded with angry comments.
“I will come to destroy it,” one user with ID dlrl**** wrote on Naver.
“It’s getting crazy,” another with ID qkqh**** wrote. “I didn’t pay my taxes for this, Ms. President. The money was to take care of people who don’t have enough.”
“That’s okay, we can pull the statue down during a rally,” a blogger named simbwa*** said.
The foundation will need a permit from Seoul Metropolitan Government, which supervises the square. But SMG has already made it clear that it would not permit the statue’s erection there, saying public consensus is the key to deciding what to set up there.
The foundation runs on private donations and manages a memorial hall in western Seoul.
Next year, a couple of memorial projects are planned to mark the former President’s birth in Seoul and North Gyeongsang Province.
The city of Gumi in North Gyeongsang Province, where he was born, plans to create a memorial park next year. It already has a five-meter statue. The Jung-gu district government will open a memorial park in Sindang-dong, eastern Seoul, where in 1961 he plotted a military coup. According to news reports, the money set aside for memorial projects nationwide exceeds 180 billion won ($158 million).